Petty Business For Miss Liberty

He now has half as many jobs involving the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as he used to have.

Iacocca remains in charge of fund raising, a task he has handled admirably, but will have no say in how those funds are spent.

While his firing by Interior Secretary Donald Hodel did not, as Iacocca described it, border on the ``un-American,`` it certainly was awkward.

The country`s best-known automaker says he was sacked because he opposed plans to build a luxury hotel and conference center on Ellis Island. Hodel calls that assertion untrue and claims the hotel project is just one of the options being studied.

The reason Iacocca was removed from his position as chairman of the advisory commission, the secretary said, was to avoid a conflict of interest.

Interpreted, that means the man who directed the collection of $235 million is considered by some Reagan administration officials to be a willful tyrant who couldn`t be trusted to behave at decision-making time.

Whatever the story, the glamorization of Ellis Island should not be an option.

The point of entry for so many of the millions who came to this country during the peak immigration years from 1892 to 1943 should be restored, but should not be turned into a resort area.

As Iacocca put it, the commercialization of Ellis Island, ``financing it through tax shelters for the rich . . . is not part of the deal we made with the American people.``

The project will go forward, despite the bruise on Iacocca`s ample ego. It is too bad, however, that an enterprise that has generated so much public enthusiasm and generosity had to be sullied by a petty clash of personalities.